Bandura et al. (aggression) Flashcards
What is the title of this study?
Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models
what is the year of this study?
1961
what is the psychology being investigated in this study?
Social learning theory: social behaviour is learned primarily by observing and imitating others. it is “learning by proxy”. The four components to it are:
Attention: observers must pay attention to the behaviour of the model. the model must have some features that attract the observer
Retention: observers must store the behaviour in they long-term memory so that the information can be used again (when the observer wants to imitate the behaviour)
Reproduction: observers must feel capable of imitating the retained, observed behaviour
Motivation: if observers experience vicarious reinforcement, they are more likely to imitate the behaviour. this is when the model has been rewarded for performing the observed behaviour. vicarious punishment can also happen. the role model is punished for the observed behaviour, so is less likely to imitate it
what is the background of this study?
learning behaviour by imitating others is called observational leaning
several studies had demonstrated that children are influenced by witnessing adult behaviour in the same situation and in the presence of the adult who modelled the behaviour
this study is concerned with learning gender-specific behaviours
what were the aims of this study?
overall aim: to investigate observational learning of aggression
Specific aims
To see whether children would reproduce aggressive behaviour when the model was no longer present
to look for gender differences in the learning of aggression
what was the procedure for this study?
Research method: lab experiment and observations
experimental design: independant groups and matched pairs design
IV:
Behaviour of the model
aggressive or non-aggressive
sex of the model
sex of the child
DV: amount of behaviour observed in 8 categories
Sample: 36 boys and 36 girls from Stanford university nursery school. the ages ranged from 37 months to 69 months with a mean age of 52 months. 2 adults, a male and female served as the role models in the experiment. one female experimenter conducted the study for all 72 participants
Sampling technique: opportunity sampling
Participants were divided into 8 experimental groups (6 children each) and one control group with 24 participants who watched no model
children in each condition were matched for levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression, aggression towards inanimate objects and aggressive inhibition
51 participants were rated independently on a 4, 5 point scale by the experimenter and nursery teacher. a very good agreement of 0.89 was reached
how was the behaviour modelled in this study?
each child was brought individually to a play room by the experimenter she then invited the model who was outside the room
the experimenter took the child to one corner of the room which was supposed to be their play area. she demonstrated how the child could design picture with potato prints and the stickers provided
the experimenter then escorted the model to the opposite corner of the room which contained a small table and chair, a tinker toy set, a mallet, and a 5 foot inflated bobo doll. she explained that these were the materials provided for the model to play with and left
in the non aggressive condition, the model assembled the tinker toys in a quiet subdued manner totally ignoring the bobo doll
in the aggressive condition, the model began assembling the tinker toys but after a minute he turned to bob and played with it
the model punched the doll, sat on it and punched it repeatedly, hit him with a mallet on the head and aggressively kicked it about the room
the model also included verbal aggression such as “sock him in the nose”, “pow”, “throw him in the air”, and 2 non-aggressive comments “he keeps coming back for more” and “he sure is a tough fella”.
this lasted for about ten minutes
what was the aggression arousal in this study?
this was included for two reasons: observation of aggressive behaviour exhibited by others tends to reduce the probability of aggression on the part of the observer
and in order to instigate or annoy the children
the participants were taken to a different room with some very attractive toys
the attractive toys included a fire engine, a locomotive, a jet fighter plane, a cable car, a colourful spinning top, and a doll set complete with wardrobe, doll carriage, and baby crib
they were allowed to play with them for 2 minutes before the experimenter stopped them and said that they were reserved for other children
how was the test for delayed imitation done in this study?
children were taken into the experimenter room which contained a variety of toys including aggressive and non-aggressive toys
the aggressive toys were a 3 foot bobo doll, a mallet and a peg board, two dart guns and a tether ball with a face painted on it which hung from the ceiling
the non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons andcolournig paper, a ball, two dolls, three bears, cars, trucks, and plastic farm animals
the toys were placed in a fixed manner
children were observed playing for the next 20 minutes
2 more observers watched the child play and had an inter-rater reliability of 0.90
3 types of aggression were recorded:
imitated aggression (physical and verbal)
non-imitative aggression
partially imitative aggression
how was the test for delayed imitation done in this study?
children were taken into the experimenter room which contained a variety of toys including aggressive and non-aggressive toys
the aggressive toys were a 3 foot bobo doll, a mallet and a peg board, two dart guns and a tether ball with a face painted on it which hung from the ceiling
the non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons andcolournig paper, a ball, two dolls, three bears, cars, trucks, and plastic farm animals
the toys were placed in a fixed manner
children were observed playing for the next 20 minutes
2 more observers watched the child play and had an inter-rater reliability of 0.90
3 types of aggression were recorded:
imitated aggression (physical and verbal)
non-imitative aggression
partially imitative aggression
what were the results of this test?
there was a significant difference in levels of imitative aggression between the group that witnessed aggresive behaviour and the other two groups
there was a significant difference in levels of imitative physical and verbal aggression
significantly motor non-aggressive play was recorded in the non-aggressive model condition
children who had witnessed an aggressive model were significantly more aggressive themselves
overall, very little difference was present between aggression in the control group and that in the non aggressive modelling condition
boys were significantly more likely to imitate male aggressive models
boys were significantly more physically aggressive then girls, girls were slightly more verbally aggressive
what were the conclusions of this study?
witnessing aggression in a model can be enough to produce aggression by an observer
children selectively imitate gender-specific behaviour
what were the ethical issues surrounding this study?
children were exposed to aggressive behaviour and not protected
informed consent was taken by the nursery teacher
what were the strengths and weaknesses of this study?
strengths
the study has high levels of standardisation so a higher reliability
the study has many controls which increases its validity
ther was a high inter-observer/ inter-rater reliability
low risk of demand characteristics
using a matched pairs design reduced the effects of participant vairables
use of quantitative data allows for easier statistical analyses
weaknesses
the study lacks ecological validity and mundane realism
what are the issues and debates surrounding this study
application to everyday life: can be useful to advertising agencies
individual and situational explanation: this study supports the situational side of the debate as the situation that the children were in caused the imitated aggressive behaviour
nature vs nurture: this supports the nurture side of the debate as the environment they were in caused the imitated aggressive behaviour
the use of children: less susceptible to demand characteristics however they may become more aggressive after this study
